Twelve People Deported Under Police Escort Since May

Fréttablaðið reports that twelve people were deported from Iceland under police escort between May 30 and August 5, 2022. According to the information from the National Commissioner of Police, the individuals were escorted to Georgia, Albania, Great Britain, Greece, Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Canada.

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Among the deported individuals were no children. Five of the people in question were deported on the basis of staying in Iceland illegally, four were detainees, and three of them had their asylum applications rejected and were returned to the countries where they had received reportedly previously international protection.

Earlier this year, the government planned to deport nearly 300 people from Iceland. The controversial bill has been later withdrawn, reducing the number of people who might face deportation to 197, sparing families with children.

Gunnar Hörður Garðarsson, a representative of the National Commissioner of Police, said that the requests for police escorts are carefully processed, with asylum seekers also being given the opportunity to leave the country without a police escort.